Invitation Homes’s policy is to renew Section 8 leases and accept new tenants, according to a person with knowledge of the firm. Any inquiries that were turned away were because of a glitch at the call center level as the company builds out its operations and trains its staff, said the person, who asked not to be named because the practices are private.

‘Don’t Understand’

Nicole Borden, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in Atlanta, said she was told this month by representatives from Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent that the companies aren’t offering any of the homes on the market to Section 8 voucher holders.

“This is not homeownership,” Borden said. “I don’t understand how so many people are being turned down from rentals.”

Peter Nelson, chief financial officer of American Homes 4 Rent in Agoura Hills, California, didn’t respond to e-mail and telephone requests for comment. Silver Bay, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and Colony declined to comment. The three companies have failed to show a profit while acquiring properties faster than they can fill them with tenants, according to filings.

American Homes

American Homes 4 Rent had leased 56 percent of its 18,326 homes as of June 30, according to an Aug. 20 statement. The company, which reported a $14 million loss for the second quarter, has cut about 15 percent of its workforce this year, a person familiar with the terminations said earlier this month. The company rose 0.3 percent at 9:46 a.m. in New York to $15.95 after selling shares for $16 at the end of July.

American Homes 4 Rent avoids renting to voucher holders, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the company’s policies are private.

Silver Bay filled 65 percent of its properties as of June 30, up from 53 percent the previous three months. To qualify for an Atlanta home, tenants must have three times the rent in income, according to the firm’s website, which would likely exclude Section 8 applicants since their vouchers are based on low earnings.

The Section 8 program was created under President Richard Nixon to shift support for low-income housing to the private sector after large government projects, such as Chicago’s Cabrini-Green, became hubs for crime and blight, said Susan Popkin, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington.

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